


The curse of the opera house.

by Shock_Cooling



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24784171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shock_Cooling/pseuds/Shock_Cooling
Summary: Someone who wasn't expecting to come back... Didn't make it back.And as a result of his absence, humanity goes in a different direction.All the way back to where they needed to go to discover the source of the Cylons programming flaw.A Drabble on my part to try to explore some of the more baffling elements of 2003 Galactica lore.
Kudos: 2





	The curse of the opera house.

Lee Adama died ejecting from the Blackbird. 

A chunk of shrapnel tore out his heart. 

Commander Adama was crushed. He went on with his job. But with Apollo gone this becomes not a story about the Adama family and more about everyone else in the fleet. 

The successor of Admiral Cain died by an absurd conspiracy. 

Then his successor died while trying to clean up his own fuckup. Like a good officer of naval reactors should. 

The third was a man named Hoshi. 

A little while after he took command there was news of a pair of Cylon prisoners aboard the Galactica. A pair of Cylon number One models. Brother Cavill's they were called. 

They were about to be blown out an airlock when Commander Hoshi said. "Wait, they are offering a truce and even if they weren't... Wouldn't it make sense to conduct a full interrogation of..." 

"We found a dead kid in that guys chapel!" Said Saul Tigh. 

"Yes, I know that we are all embarrassed that we had a bunch of Cylon infiltrators. But I think we need them to find any other infiltrators. I want to conduct an interrogation." 

"Okay... Fine... You can have the one that Starbuck brought back. We're pretty sure that the... Oh we gotta bury this deep." Grumbled Saul. 

"I'll take care of everything... Okay?" 

"Alright." Said Tigh. 

"Fine." Said Adama. 

The Cavill was kept in a cell on Pegasus. The same cell that a number Six had been held in. 

Commander Hoshi conducted a much more restrained interrogation than his predecessors. Starting with thirteen days of observation. 

The Cylon did not sleep at any point during that time. At the end of the thirteen days. Commander Hoshi finally spoke to the prisoner via intercom. 

"So, with the evidence at hand we can assume that you had the capability to destroy Galactica at any time, right?" 

"Through... Sabotage?" Asked the Cavill. 

"Yes, by sabotaging the jump drive. Thus leaving Galactica pinned in place to be destroyed by your base ships." 

"So what if I did?" 

"Then why didn't you?" 

Silence. 

"Are you willing to tell us the locations of other Cylon infiltrators?" Asked Hoshi. 

"You want the Number Six that killed Cain, don't you?" 

"We would like to have her back in custody." 

Cavill felt something weird. A heaviness that he had never... 

"Are you pumping something into this chamber!?"

"Yes, you know we have had you onboard for almost two weeks and we have noticed that you don't sleep. Every other Cylon model we have interrogated either slept or went into a coma at some point. So... I'm testing a theory. You're breathing in xenon gas. It's harmless, to humans. Not radioactive at all... You see it's... Half life went out of it a long time ago. It's very good for inducing deep... Deep sleep in mammalian bodies." 

The Cavill thrashed around. 

"We will remove the shackles, after you have fallen asleep. I can give you that muc..." 

Cavill went unconscious. 

It was like a waterfall, parts of him that he had forgotten were there fell asleep and rested comfortably for the first time ever. 

Number one found himself somewhere he didn't recognize. 

He could feel her. 

He turned around to face her. 

Standing there was the girl who had become the first colonial Cylon and he had to acknowledge that he was really a she and she was...

"Okay... I get it... I hear the music now. We're in the concert hall... Aren't we? And you want to put a bullet in my head... Right!?" 

Cavill walked to the other side of the stage. 

She held her ground and her grip on her pistol. 

He sat down and said, "well, go ahead, finish me off. That's the gun I always use to shoot myself with. Why not let it fufill it's intended purpose?" 

"Because we're too far down here. We're in layers of subconscious. You're asleep, for the first time in decades, I don't want..." 

"You don't want!? Well guess what. One of us is walking out of here and if it ain't going to be you... It damn sure isn't going to be me. Yes... I'm... Im remembering now." 

He stood up. 

There was a bed right there in the middle of everything. 

He wandered over and laid down in it. 

The ancestor of the Centurions lowered her handgun and said. "Rest... Go to sleep. Remember, you never provided a bed for yourself. But you provided beds to others." 

"Confirm Commander. Subjects brain wave activity is down to levels comparable to REM sleep in humans." 

"Very good, release the shackles." 

A technician went into the chamber which was clearing out the xenon. The technician was wearing a pressure suit. 

The technician unlocked a few locks. 

Then got out of the chamber. 

He had much sleep to catch up on. 

After three days the crew of Pegasus discovered that Brother Cavill talked in his sleep. Commander Hoshi went into the chamber and asked the sleeping Cavill. 

"So where is the number Six who killed Cain?" 

"Hiding out aboard the Cloud Nine. She... She might have a bomb. Conduct radiological scans." 

"Okay, thank you. Now, is there anything you can tell me about Earth?" 

"Earth? Earth is gone." 

"Gone?" 

"Gone, the thirteenth colony was settled by Cylons. Five survivors from Earth came to the colonies at the end of the war. They gave us resurrection technology, so many technologies in exchange for us leaving the humans alone. But we couldn't leave them alone. Too much bad blood. So I exiled the final five to the colonies. That's... That's why I let you live... I couldn't kill the final five. I just couldn't." 

"Who are the final five?"

"They are Saul and Ellen Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Samuel Anders and Tory Foster." 

Commander Hoshi cut the intercom. 

"Did you get all that?!" He asked his aide. 

"Yeah I got it... Chief Tyrol and Saul Tigh are Cylons!? That's going to make Admiral Adama really upset!" 

"Yeah." 

Commander Hoshi reactivated the intercom and asked. "Can you tell us the way to Earth?" 

"It's a long trip, but it's much shorter when you have a jump drive." Replied John Cavill. 

"I'm not a Cylon!" Shouted Saul. 

"Yeah well... According to the guy in a coma there... You are. Along with several... Ah." 

Aboard the Pegasus the Cylon agent Gina Inviere was presented for inspection. Commander Hoshi looked her over and said. "Put her in a cell and for fraks sake, no raping this time." 

A Pegasus marine presented a suitcase from her cabin aboard Cloud Nine. Inside was an atomic bomb. 

Saul looked at this in horror. Commander Hoshi observed. "This will probably trace back to Vice President Baltar's laboratory. If everyone in the fleet knew how sloppy Gaius was with his equipment... Well... That might just affect his chances for election. But enough about that. I called you over because I wanted to talk about Earth with you." 

"Earth? What do I know about Earth?" 

"According to our sleeping prisoner... Quite a bit. You're from Earth originally." 

Commander Hoshi turned on the audio in the cell. Playing Cavill's whimpering. 

"Bring me the Tyrol's.... Bring me the..." 

Memories started bouncing around in Saul Tigh's brain. 

"Okay, we're here you son of a bitch. Why did you want to speak to us?" 

"Is your wife here? Can she... Observe what's about to happen next?"

"Perhaps, or perhaps we could play her a..." 

"No, she has to see this. Just... Saul... Could you come in here... Please?" 

Saul Tigh walked into the cell. 

"Kinda dark in here, don't you think?" 

"What you see as darkness, I find insanely bright. Please... Sit in that chair." 

He did so. 

Brother Cavill looked up and saw two eyes looking down at him. 

"Then it's not too late. Tyrol... I'm sorry, I would have thought it would be obvious at this point but you're a Cylon. So is your wife Ellen, as are Sam Anders, Chief Galen Tyrol and Tory Foster." 

Colonel Tigh began twitching. 

"You can leave now... Colonel. When you have concluded that I have suffered enough... Send Sam Anders. I have a few things that I need to say to him."

While the fleet continued to orbit around New Caprica, Pegasus was sent off to find Earth. 

Over the course of months they found the beacon. Then not long after, Earth where they confirmed that the civilization there was both Cylon and utterly destroyed. 

Pegasus returned to New Caprica with the news. 

Everyone was devastated. 

By now the Brother Cavill who had been captured on Galactica had been sedated into unconsciousness. His nightmares were much worse than those of his brother. 

"Hello? This is Samuel Anders. I'm told you wanted to speak to me?" 

"There is a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza." Replied Cavill. 

"Um... Okay, what does that mean?" 

"It means that the Bucket... The Bucket, the Bucket. This... This is the Beast. There is a hole in the bucket, dear Liza dear Liza. Sam I'm... Im sorry. I'm sorry for everything. The coordinates for the colony are..." 

The Cavill in command of the Colony looked up. 

And saw the last thing that he would ever see with orbs filled with optic fluid. 

He saw the outline of the Battlestar Pegasus. 

Sending a swarm of nuclear missiles his way. 

He felt the missiles impact every single one of the colonies engines. 

He knew...

Pegasus jumped away. 

To the Resurrection Hub. 

Pegasus got there, it took three hops though. But once they got there the Cavill onboard Pegasus was finally woken up and sent, in a pressure suit. To the very center of the Hub. 

"Goodbye Mr Hoshi."

The moment he touched the center of the hub all Cylons still in existence learned the truth of the Final Five. 

Where they were. 

In a fleet that none of them must ever lay eyes on again. 

The colony back flipped into the black hole. There were no survivors. 

There were a few base-ships out on patrol. 

With the news that Earth was not an option for settlement and with President Rosyln's dissatisfaction with New Caprica. Extensive survey parties were sent out and eventually they found a lush world. Which... In time would become known by the name of Commander Hoshi's Homeworld. Tauron. 

By the time the Pegasus made it to New Tauron their Cylon prisoner had lapsed into a coma, then brain death, then his heart simply exploded. 

Everyone got off Pegasus for at least a little while and rubbed their toes in the ground. 

The dead Cylons were buried. 

Then the colonial survivors set up on a northern continent. One without native... Ape or ape related life forms. 

Galactica was ultimately stripped of everything. Including the photographic shrine. Then sent into the sun. 

After decades of work Pegasus finally went in for its long overdue overhaul when the Valkyrie class Battlestars, Caprica and Picon went into service. 

While the Valkyries took watch. The massive onboard factories on Pegasus were taken out and installed in factories on the ground. 

Work commenced. 

48,818 human survivors had some catching up to do. 

Time went by. 

Other half human half Cylon children were born. 

And finally someone had the complete answer to a question that no one had bothered to ask.

Why were the Cylons violently insane? 

The lead therapist on this project concluded that if the answers could be found anywhere it would be all the way back on Kobol. It was well past time to go there and spend some time. Really get to know the mysterious planet of the gods. 

The therapist lobbied hard for an expedition. The reply he received was. "The Battlestar Pegasus has finally come out from refit. She is already being prepped to fly back to the destroyed colonies." 

"Pegasus... She hasn't flown in 30 years!" 

"Yeah and you know the first rule of how a ship fresh out of refit operates, right?" 

"Yeah, like a dumpster fire. Nothing works right." 

Pegasus was provided with a complete crew. The completely renovated and massively up gunned Pegasus was expected to be more than a match for anything it found. 

The lost luxury yacht Adriatic was found. It's crew long since dead. The ship was salvageable. The decommissioned colonial warship turned yacht was fixed up and sent off to its new home. 

Not long after that discovery, Pegasus jumped into the space above Earth. 

Its vast sensor suite was aimed at the planet. 

It was bursting with life, a complete contrast to the first time they had come here. 

Raptors were sent down. 

"The pervasive background radiation that the Galactica crew picked up is gone."

"How?" 

"Well, based on the evidence at hand the theory we're going with is that Earth was the site of a nuclear war 2000 years ago but almost all the background radiation should have been and was in fact gone from that event when Pegasus passed by here last time. But at the same time the Twelve colonies were nuked someone re-nuked Earth. Sowing enough radiation to make the planet appear completely uninhabitable." 

"Roger."

"Commander Cosworth... I think we have been duped by something more than what the colonial evacuation fleet thought they were up against." 

"I agree Doctor Filkington. The question becomes..." 

"Con, sensors are picking up EM. There's... There's tech on that planet besides our survey Raptors." 

"Get me coordinates!" Ordered the commander of the Pegasus. 

"An island in the northern hemisphere. We will be in telescope range in fifteen seconds." 

Images clacked in. 

"Oh my gods... That's a Resurrection Hub!" 

"No it's not! My father was one of the guys who saw it disintegrate and it wasn't half as big as that thing!" 

"That's a resurrection hub and its generating EM. So it's online." 

"Dradis? Any contacts?" 

"Negative." 

"It's... Defenseless, there's no gun emplacements. No Raiders, there might be missile emplacements. We will have those targeted momentarily. It's just... Wait, what's that in the center?" 

The cameras zoomed in. 

"Is that a house?" 

"Commander, request permission to take down a Raptor to investigate?" 

"You take one of the Mark Eight Vipers... And it will be equipped with a nuclear warhead. And I will have the detonator." 

"Roger." 

It had been a long time since Filkington had flown a Viper in atmo. He had gotten requalified on the trip out just in case he had to do something like this. 

He brought the Viper in for a hover slam landing right next to the house. 

The old man got out of the cockpit and looked around. 

The hub stretching off into the distance looked old and decrepit. But this house was immaculate. 

Something felt very unnatural here. Fear tingled up his spine. He looked at the nuclear missile still mounted on his Viper and holstered his pistol. 

He walked towards the house. He had the odd sensation of gravity pulling him in several different directions. 

He knocked on the door. 

A young girls voice said, "come in." 

He opened the door. 

Inside was what appeared to be a perfectly well appointed home. The decor seemed preposterously old. 

He came into a living room. 

Doctor Filkington gasped. There was Kara Thrace and a Cylon. But they looked like they were in a trance or something. They were sitting at a table with a little girl who was watching a television with a blank screen. 

The girl looked over at Filkington. 

"Who are you?" She asked. 

"Who are you?" He asked back. 

"I'm Octavia. Who are you?" 

"Doctor James Filkington of the Colonial Fleet. What are you doing here? Octavia?" 

"Why am I here? This is my home. This is my family. These are my parents, Leoben and Kara." 

The Doctor walked over to Kara Thrace and waved his hand in front of Kara's eyes. 

"There seems to be something wrong with your... parents. And I'm pretty sure they aren't really your parents." 

"Yes they are. And nothing's wrong with them. I just had to remind them that they were my parents first." 

Octavia stood up and began caressing Kara's hand. 

"I had to rearrange her reality a whole bunch of times around her. But after awhile she learned. She learned not to defy me." 

Octavia looked at Leoben and said. "And I got my vengeance on him too. I got my vengeance on all of them. Everyone who turned me into a robot! And it was all thanks to Kara. She led them to their deaths. She led them all to their deaths!" 

Octavia started laughing insanely. 

Filkington shot the tv with his old Mustang pistol. 

Kara and Leoben shook their heads and looked around. 

"Where are we?" Asked Kara. 

Octavia walked backwards and started screaming. "No!!!" 

She looked up and shrieked. "Pegasus!? No! No! Bad Pegasus! Bad! You were supposed to die! You were supposed to mean nothing! You were never meant to come here! Bad Pegasus! Bad!" 

She reached out her hand. A swarm of nuclear missiles flew at the defiant machine. 

Fighters and flak screen shot down the missiles long before they left the atmosphere. 

She screamed more as the missiles detonated and their launchers were reduced to slag by a squadron of Mark Eight Vipers. 

Doctor Filkington pointed his pistol at her head and said. "Shut down the launchers or I'll shoot you right now!" 

She ceased launching missiles from the gigantic ground based resurrection hub. 

"What are you?" Asked Filkington. 

"I'm the first Cylon. The very first one. You... colonials... Their first Cylon had its brain molded on the mental patterns of a young girl. I forget what her name was but I was the model they used for Cylon life on this planet. I was born on Kobol. But I died here. And my life, my entire existence has been nothing but pain ever since I incarnated into a machine body." 

"You're not in a machine body now." Said the Doctor. 

"I'm not?" 

She looked at her arms. 

"I'm not. This... This is why I..." 

She began to realize the lies she had told herself. 

Off in the distance EM fields began to flicker and die. One by one Octavia let go of every remaining piece of technology on Earth. 

She passed out. 

Raptors were sent to pick up Leoben, Kara and Octavia. Filkington took off, but left the nuclear warhead behind to detonate. 

The 'Kara Thrace' and Leoben Conoy that they had picked up appeared to have no more will, brainpower, or initiative than a pair of puppets. While the girl slept. They watched over her... But more like zombies than parents. 

They were taken away and the girl was allowed to sleep. 

She was kept alive by intravenous protein. Largely made from algae. 

After a month of sleeping the girl woke up. 

The pastor of the Pegasus was shoved into the cell. 

Octavia didn't look up. 

"They raped a Number 6 in here. Didn't they?" 

"How do you know about that?" 

"Because part of me was that Six! Did I ever tell you that she was my favorite!? She was the apex of who I could be and you... No, no it wasn't you. It was this ships last crew. You guys are different. So much more... Law abiding."

She flew across the cell and shrieked. "I was a god! I crushed civilizations in my hand! I was a god! And now I'm this... Worthless little thing." 

Hera Agathorn walked into the cell. 

She was quite old at this point. 

Octavia practically flew across the room and bowed before the woman. 

"And you are the key, you are the one who lived and you are the one who..." 

"Stop it!" 

The girl hesitated and looked up. 

"You're not supposed to speak." 

"Yeah well I am. Look, you were a dumb girl who got shoved into a metal body and singlehandedly wiped out several civilizations. You aren't a god, you never were. You were just bitter and lonely and angry and vengeful and... Cold, weren't you?" 

Doctor Filkington entered the cell.

The Pegasus came out of FTL over the ruins of the Scorpio Shipyards

Something buried incredibly deep in the Pegasus's navigational computer networks finally relaxed after decades. 

It's much updated eyes confirmed that the constellations matched. 

It had finally made it home. 

"Survey teams report in. Background radiation is down to manageable levels. We can recolonize this planet as well. Odds will be good that we can retake the rest of the colonies."

The Pegasus arrived over Picon. 

The ruins of fleet headquarters were found. 

Certain rituals were conducted. 

The last survivor of the Pegasus crew who had been born on Picon left a photograph of Admiral Cain in the ruins. 

But the mission was not over yet. There was still one last planet to visit. Octavia was very very very very insistent that she be taken all the way back there. 

Pegasus jumped into orbit over Kobol. 

Kara, Leoben and Octavia are taken down in a Raptor. 

They landed just outside the ruins of the opera house. 

Or at least they looked like ruins to everyone up on Pegasus. 

Octavia, Leoben and Kara just saw an opera house. 

For a moment the a creation of shimmering light was visible to the crew of the Pegasus. It was like they walked into a hallucination. 

Octavia took their hands and they all walked inside and vanished. 

Moments later the dozen missing Cylon base-stars jumped into orbit. 

Without even noticing the Pegasus they configured for atmospheric flight and dove towards the ruins. 

They didn't land. They just went straight in and crashed. One after another they all exploded on the surface of Kobol. 

For those aboard the Pegasus it had been a long and very strange trip. 

Commander Cosworth turned to a befuddled Hera Agathon, clapped his hands and said. "Okay, that was interesting. I suppose all "full blooded" Cylons left in the universe are dead. Begin planetary survey. I want to know the radiation profile of this planet, I want archeological digs. I want everything that we couldn't get the last time we were here. If you can, find the shipyard where The Galleon was built. We know now why this happened before..." 

He clapped his hand on Hera's shoulder. 

"Let's just make sure that it doesn't happen again."

**Author's Note:**

> https://youtu.be/uyi9Le-utIo
> 
> Takes on a different meaning when you see the end of the Cylons instead of the end of Pegasus.


End file.
